An archive of articles and listserve postings of interest, mostly posted without commentary, linked to commentary at the Education Notes Online blog. Note that I do not endorse the points of views of all articles, but post them for reference purposes.

Friday, October 14, 2011

NY Mag on OWS

When even a Fox News readers'
poll puts support for the Occupy
Wall Street protests at more than 60 percent, it's safe to say we have
something of a movement on our hands. The demonstrations are approaching
the one-month mark stronger than ever, expanding beyond New York to cities
across the world. With no end in sight (but with winter on its way), one
question keeps coming up: "How is this going to end?" Mark Naison knows a few things about protest
movements. A political activist and professor in Fordham's Urban and African-American
Studies programs, Naison attended Columbia University in the sixties, where
he joined the Congress of Racial Equality and Students for a Democratic
Society. In 1968, he was part of a group that occupied Columbia buildings
in opposition to the construction of a gym in Morningside Park. (It was
never built.)And yet upon his first visit to Zuccotti
Park, Naison was confused. "It was the first time in my life that
I had been at a demonstration that I didn't recognize a single person.
It was very different — overwhelmingly white, countercultural, educated,
and unconnected to the major movements in New York City," he noticed.
But since, he salutes the group's exponential growth: "This now has
catalyzed a huge variety of people who are dissatisfied with the way things
are going politically, rampant unemployment, the increasing concentration
of wealth at the top, and with the Obama administration. What I see here
is a coalition of a variety of different forces concerned with social and
economic justice issues that I haven't seen since the sixties. And it caught
everybody by surprise!"Todd Gitlin, also an experienced activist,
served as president of the Students for a Democratic Society in the early
sixties, protesting the Vietnam War and taking part in a Chase Manhattan
Bank sit-in against South African apartheid in the spring of 1965. He also
credits Occupy Wall Street's "many moving parts" and cites five
forces that will dictate the path it takes moving forward: There are the
people who initially organized and are sustaining it; the "outer movement,"
which includes older activists, unions, and community organizations; the
Democratic politicians who have reacted positively; the political opposition,
like Eric Cantor and his ilk; and finally, the police. "All of these
forces can move these vectors in different directions," Gitlin says,
but there are a few leading possibilities:1. The Democrats Ride the WavePoliticians have already started to associate
themselves with the demonstrators (see: underdog NYC mayoral candidate
Scott
Stringer) and that's likely to
increase as we get closer to Election Day 2012. According to Gitlin, "a
certain camp of Democrats can try to benefit from this newly unleashed
energy with something like a Contract with America, or a roster of demands
that would appeal to some number of demonstrators."This could include incumbents in Congress,
like Nancy Pelosi, but might be more effective for those running as insurgents,
like Elizabeth Warren in Massachusetts. "It doesn't seem like a possibility
that any significant legislation can be passed any time soon because of
the Republican lock in Congress," says Gitlin. "But the energy
of the movement can be put to use within normal politics depending on the
adroitness of politicians. Will they make efforts to turn these people
from marchers to campaigners?" Both Gitlin and Naison say they've heard
grumbles at the protests about voter suppression and wonder if some subset
of the demonstrators might be mobilized into a "get out the vote"
movement in support of Democrats. Such a path would certainly be met with
disgruntlement from the core of the demonstrators, some of whom are already
voicing opposition to politicians "co-opting" the movement. But
Gitlin says such a track should be seen as a success.2. A Third Party RisesThe worst outcome, according to Gitlin, would
be the increased legitimacy of a third party that peels off left-wing voters
from the Democrats. "Two words," says Gitlin. "Ralph Nader.
It would be a disaster, as it was in 2000."Naison is less sure the movement's effects
will be felt that quickly and estimates, "This is going to take three
or five or even ten years to see its influences materialize."3. The Movement SplintersMatt
Taibbi noted that "the time
is rapidly approaching when the movement is going to have to offer concrete
solutions to the problems posed by Wall Street." But agreeing on a
list of demands could be more than the fledgling movement can bear at this
point in its development. "It's conceivable that concrete demands
could come," Gitlin explains, "if somebody distilled a program
and said they agree to support every candidate who supports the program
and oppose those who don't. That could be a powerful vector in elections."
(See: the tea party.) But alternatively, "There is a utopian thrust
to the encampments, who quite explicitly say, 'We don't make demands, we
are the demands.' They have a community here and want to sustain it. All
these forces will be contending."A more extreme group could also materialize
from within the Occupy Wall Street ranks, Gitlin said. "There are
always those who want to ratchet up the militancy and if the police take
the bait, you could have some ugly incidents that diminish the repute the
movement enjoys right now. It doesn't take a lot of people to do that.
It is disgraceful to say that there are mobs at work now, but there could
be. It wouldn't be surprising, but it would be disruptive."4. External Forces Take HoldFriday is already looking like it will be
tense, as the city plans to clear out protesters, purportedly to clean
the park, but also to bar protesters from bringing in sleeping bags and
other gear when they return. Also disruptive, assuming the park's owners
don't
act first, will be the weather.
Winter is coming, and with the ban on building structures the protesters
will be pressed to hold their ground against the elements. "The most
important thing is keeping the movement together in operational spaces,"
Naison says. "The space issue is going to be key. The movement keeps
building, but you're running this race against time in terms of keeping
something outdoors." He floated the possibility of squatting in empty
luxury condos or commercial spaces, as occurred in Germany after the fall
of the Berlin Wall. The protesters could also find housing with sympathetic
church groups. While the weather may seem like a trivial
issue in the face of Occupy Wall Street's growing momentum and legitimacy,
the biggest risk to the demonstrations' proliferation may be if "the
middle-class kids just get tired and go home. That would take a lot of
steam out of it," Naison says. "The only problem is they might
not have nice middle-class lives to go back to anymore. The economy isn't
improving. What do they have as an alternative?" In Gitlin's view, "It's conceivable
that the movement could hibernate like a bear for the winter months and
reemerge. Then it might have a different agenda depending on political
arrangements. But the insurgent energy will still be there."

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About Me

Norm Scott worked in the NYC school system from 1967 to 2002, spending 30 of those years teaching elementary school in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn (District 14). He retired in July 2002. He has been active in education reform and in the UFT, often as a critic of union policy, since 1970, working with a variety of groups. In 1996 he began publishing Education Notes, a newsletter for teachers attending the UFT Delegate Assembly. In 2002, he expanded the paper into a 16-page tabloid, printing up to 25,000 copies distributed to teacher mailboxes through Ed Notes supporters. Education Notes started publishing a blog in Aug. 2006. Norm also writes the School Scope education column for The Wave, the Rockaway Beach community newspaper.